Undercurrents

Robert Buckley

Robert Buckley

General Info

Year: 2016
Duration: c. 6:45
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $115.00; (digital) - $115.00   |   Score Only (print) - $15.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III (all doubling Flugelhorn)
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

• Bass Drum
• Bells
• Marimba
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbal
• Tambourine
• Toms (3)
• Triangle
• Vibraphone
• Vibraslap

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Undercurrents provides an electrifying, virtuosic showcase for the whole ensemble – featuring a series of solos, duets and trios, as well as highlighting the various chamber sections within the band. The music was inspired by watching schools of fish and flocks of birds perpetually moving with the ocean currents and air currents. Every once in a while a single solo shape will appear – or two or three – they dance apart for a moment and then are drawn back into the ensemble.

In a cinematic style, the middle section invokes the vision of shape moving in and out of shafts of light. It features a rich chorale interspersed with quick-moving solo passage darting in and out of the lush texture. With one segment flowing into another, this composition develop organically, converging in a final climactic union rush.

Commissioned by the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, Victoria, BC, this is a powerful tour-de-force from beginning to end.

- Program Note from publisher

The work is intended to be evocative of the seascape in the Victoria area (at the southwestern tip of British Columbia), the home base of the Naden Band.

- Program Note from Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

• MusicFest Canada: B600

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• Panther Creek High School (Cary, N.C.) Wind Ensemble (David Robinson, conductor) – 21 November 2019
• Fresno State University (Calif.) Wind Orchestra (Gary P. Gilroy, conductor) – 22 March 2018 (CBDNA 2018 Western/Northwestern Conference, Rohnert Park, Calif.)
• California State University Fresno Wind Orchestra (Gary P. Gilroy, conductor) -16 March 2018 (2018 Sutherland Wind Festival (Fresno, Calif.)
• DuPage (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) Community Concert Band (Terry Redford, conductor) - 12 March 2018
• University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) - 10 March 2018
• Lone Star Wind Orchestra (Dallas, Tex.) (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) – 4 March 2018
• McGill University (Montreal, Que.) Wind Orchestra (Alain Cazes, conductor) – 3 November 2017
• University of South Florida (Tampa) Wind Ensemble (John Carmichael, conductor) – 1 October 2017
• Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy (Matthew Clark, conductor) - 11 eptember 2017 *Premiere Performance*
• United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Matthew Clark, conductor) - 10 March 2017 (82nd Annual ABA National Convention)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

• Final Countdown (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1986/2014)
• Highlights from "Doctor Who" (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2006/2019)
• My Favorite Things (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1959/2014)

All Wind Works

• Above and Beyond (2020)
• Ancient Stone Circles (2015)
• Arctic Fire. See: Symphony No. 1
• Attack of the Cyborgs (2017)
• Autumn's Garland. See: Symphony No. 3
• Bigfoot Stomp (2020)
• Cathedral Grove (2012)
• Codebreaker (2013)
• Continuum (2011)
• December (2013)
• Doctor Who (as arranger) (2016)
• Dreamcatcher (2016)
• Eagle Song (as arranger) (2018)
• Echo Lake (2014)
• Echoes of the Silent (2018)
• Excerpts from "The Rite of Spring" (as arranger) (2015)
• Fantasy on the Huron Carol (2014)
• Final Countdown (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1986/2014)
• Finn McCool (2020)
• Free Running (2012)
• From the Highest Peak (2017)
• The Gathering of Eagles (as arranger) (2018)
• Highlights from "Doctor Who" (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (2006/2019)
• Highway of Heroes (2019)
• Hymn to Freedom (as arranger) (1962/2017)
• I Am the Doctor (as arranger) (2015)
• Iditarod. See: Symphony No. 1
• Jitterbug! (2018)
• Kingdom of the Sun and Moon (2015)
• The Knights' Creed (2018)
• Land of the Midnight Sun. See: Symphony No. 1
• LOL (2016)
• The Legend of Billy Miner (2018)
• Let the Bells Ring! (2015)
• Lightspeed (2017)
• The Lions March (2020)
• The Magic Mirror (2020)
• My Favorite Things (Flex instrumentation) (as arranger) (1959/2014)
• Ogopogo (2015)
• An Olympic Celebration (2007/2010)
• Pacifica (Buckley) (2013)
• Portraits of the North. See: Symphony No. 1
• Postcard from Amsterdam (2015)
• Postcard from England (2014)
• Postcard from Pittsburgh (2013)
• Prestidigitation (2016)
• Procession of the Sorcerers (2009/2012)
• Propulsion (2014)
• Raven (as arranger) (2020)
• ReBoot (2013)
• Red Sky (2015)
• Rock It Science (2013)
• The Seas of the Moon
  • Sea of Tranquility (2018)
  • Foaming Sea (2018)
  • Sea of Clouds (2019)
  • Serpent Sea (2019)
• Smoke and Mirrors (2012)
• Smugglers' Cove (2019)
• Snow (2017)
• Spirit of the Wolf (as arranger) (2019)
• Spring Awakening. See: Symphony No. 3
• Squonk Blues (2016)
• Starburst (2015)
• Summer Festivals. See: Symphony No. 3
• Symphony No. 1 (2012-2014)
  • Arctic Fire (2014)
  • Land of the Midnight Sun (2013)
  • Iditarod (2012)
• Symphony No. 3 (2021)
  • Autumn's Garland
  • Winter Light
  • Spring Awakening
  • Summer Festivals
• Synergy (2019)
• Themes from "The Crown" (as arranger) (2020)
• Thunderbird
• A Tribute to Arthur Delamont
  • Front and Center (2015)
  • Memento (2015)
  • Flying Colors (2015)
• Under the Prairie Sky
• Undercurrents (2016)
• Walking to the Sky (2016)
• Where Mountains Touch the Sky (2014)
• Wild Rose Jamboree (2016)
• Windjammer (2011)
• Winter Light. See: Symphony No. 3
• Wolf Song (as arranger) (2019)

Resources

• Buckley, R. (2016) Undercurrents [score]. MusicWorks: Milwaukee, Wisc.
• Robinson, David. "Undercurrents." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 12, Compiled and edited by Andrew Trachsel, 1097-1105. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.